Alaves Joins The Race To Sign Mikel Merino

Mikel Merino is living in a time of confusion and uncertainty. After a disappointing first year at Borussia Dortmund that saw him play in only a handful of games, the 21-year-old informed the club that he wanted to return to Spain. However, with Peter Bosz taking over as the manager of the German outfit Merino will now wait to meet with him to find out if he is part of the plans moving forward. While the Spain U21 star waits to find out his future, several clubs are also doing the same.

Merino is ready to leave BVB and return to Spain (Image via Eurosport.de)

According to Sergio Santos Chozas of AS,Alaves is the latest club to show interest in signing Mikel Merino. After enjoying a great year with Marco Llorente leading the midfield, the club believes a loan for Merino would be the best move to remain competitive in the Primera.

So far Athletic Club is leading the race to land the 21-year-old. Merino wants to play regular minutes and have the chance to become a starter and he believes that a move to the San Mames is the perfect landing place. In fact, those close to the situation claim that Merino favors a switch to Athletic above anything else. That being said, Alaves now joins Valencia and Real Sociedad in hopes of landing the starlet.

Valencia and Alaves believe that they could convince BVB to part with the midfielder on loan for a year, which may be tempting. The Germans would rather not lose the 21-year-old due to the fact that he has shown the potential to become something special, however Merino wants a more secure football going into the next season. Regardless, he will have to wait until he returns to Germany after international duty before finding out what his role will be under new manager Peter Bosz. Athletic Club are heavily favored to sign the Basque midfielder, but Alaves has now joined the race.